Suction cleaner



Jan. 2, 1934. RIEBEL, JR 1,941,758

SUCTION CLEANER Filed March 17, 1932 Patented Jan. 2, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SUCTION CLEANER Application March 1'7, 1932. Serial No. 599,535 3 Claims; (Cl. 15-455) My invention relates to portable suction cleaners of the type embodying a floor tool comprising a nozzle mounted resiliently on floor wheels disposed at its lateral extremities.

The object of this invention is to provide a floor tool comprising the combination of nozzle, floor wheels, resilient mountings connecting said wheels to the nozzle and disposing the wheels beyond the lateral extremities of the nozzle, and means arranged to guard the wheels against con tact with obstructions projecting upwardly from a surface being cleaned, without interfering in any way with the free resilient movement of said wheel mountings.

Another object is to provide a simple, durable and inexpensive arrangement for accomplishing the foregoing object.

With these and other objects in view my invention consists in the combination and construction and arrangement of the various parts thereof, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as more fully set forth in the accompanying specifications, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 isv an inverted plan view of the floor tool and associated parts.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same, parts being broken away to better illustrate details of construction.

Fig. 3 is a detail view partly in section of a somewhat modified form of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 3.

The invention comprises a hollow suction neck 10, a nozzle 11 having a neck 12 connected to the suction neck 10 by means of a swivel Joint 13, floor wheels 14 journalled on resilient mountings 15, and a guard member "G.

The mountings 15 are attached to the nozzle 11 by means of sockets 16 in which the mountings are received, and securing elements 1'1 serving to retain the mountings against endwise removal from the sockets.

The mountings are of such resiliency that when the weight of the cleaner is imposed upon the floor wheels 14, the mouth of the nozzle defined between the agitator lips 18 will sink to a position of intimate association with the surface to be cleaned, a balance being established between the weight of the cleaner and the opposing forces set up in the spring mountings under distortion.

During manipulation of the cleaner, the nozzle may be depressed manually beyond its normal riding position, determined by said balancing of weight against spring tension and it will thus be seen that during operation there will be some relative vertical movement between the wheels and the nozzle. I

The guard G is generally 0 shaped in form 60 including the central portion 19, the end portions 20, and the arms 21 bent back toward each other and parallel to the central portion 19. The central portion 19 is secured as at 22 as by means of screws 22 to the forward face of the nozzle 11 near the plane of the mouth thereof, and the ends of the arms 21 are similarly secured as at 23 to the rear face of the nozzle. 7

Thus the floor wheels 14 are entirely surrounded by the guard and the adjacent end walls of the nozzle and yet are free to move vertically in spaces thus delimited.

The screws 22, 23 pass through washers 24 interposed between the guard G." and the nozzle 11, and serving to space the guard from the nozzle.

The guard is positioned in a horizontal plane intersecting the wheels, and preferably substantially bisecting the plane of the wheel axis.

The guard G may be formed of any material having the proper strength, although in its preferable form it comprises a half round metallic bar.

It will be seen that the guard G not only protects the end faces of the walls, but also protects them from the front and rear. The spaces between the ends of the rollers 14 and the end portions 20 of the guard, are wider (Fig. 1) than the spaces between the peripheries of the rollers and the parts 21, 19. The latter spacings are relatively close in order that the overall width of the floor tool may be kept at a minimum, and so that the ability of the floor tool to reach into corners, may not be unduly impaired. The end spacings are greater in order that the swinging 9i movement of the rollers 14 about their fulcrums may not be unduly limited by the end members 20. Since the fulcrums are above the plane of the guard, the rollers will describe arcs that will carry them outwardly when the floor tool is depressed relative to them.

The guard shown in Fig. 3 comprises a strip 25 having bevelled edges 26 and faced with a rubber buffer or cushion 27 bonded to the metal of the strip 25 by any conventional method, or held in place simply by the dove-tailed connection. In the latter case, the screws 23 may be passed simply through the metal 'of the strip 25 and the rubber stretched onto the strip after the latter has been applied.

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination with a suction cleaner including a transversely positioned nozzle, spring mountings attached to the lateral ends of the nozzle and having arcuately' movable wheel carrying parts projecting therebeyond, and floor wheels journalled upon the projecting portions of said mountings; a guard attached to the floor tool, extending completely around said wheels in 'a horizontal plane intersecting said wheels,

spaced closely adjacent the peripheries of said wheels, and spaced more distantly from the end faces of said'wheels. W

2. In combination with a suction cleaner including a transversely positioned nozzle and a tearwardly extending suction neck, spring mountings attached to the lateral ends ot=v the nozzle and having arcuately movable wheel carrying parts projecting therebeyond, and floor wheels journalled upon the projecting portions of said mountings; a C shaped guard comprising a central portion secured to the forward face of the nozzle and extending beyond the ends thereof, end portions bent rearwardly from said central portion, and rear arms bent toward each other from said end portions and secured to the rear face of the nozzle, spaced closely adjacent the peripheries of said wheels, and spaced more distantly from the end faces of said'wheels.

3. In combination with a suction cleaner including a transversely positioned nozzle, spring mountings attached to the lateral ends of the nozzle and having arcuately movable wheel carrying partsprojecting therebeyond, and floor wheels journalled upon the projecting portions of said mountings; guard means comprising a bar secured to the forward face of the nozzle and projecting beyond the ends thereof, and end portions bent rearwardly from said central portion to protect the wheels against contact with obstructions rising vertically from a surface being cleaned, said bar being spaced closely adjacent the peripheries of said wheels, and the end portions being spaced more distantly from the end faces of the wheels.

FREDERICK RIEBEL; JR. 

